Alfa Romeo insists Giovinazzi not under pressure

Alfa Romeo Formula 1 team boss Frederic Vasseur says Antonio Giovinazzi is not coming under pressure despite scoring only one point so far in 2019.

Giovinazzi has been compromised by bad luck on several occasions this season, and at Silverstone last weekend he spun off due to an issue at the rear of the car.

Although the lack of points is not entirely the Ferrari protege’s fault – his only score was 10th in Austria – it has inevitably put him in the spotlight.

Vasseur has been encouraged by Giovinazzi's recent progress, especially in qualifying, as the Italian has beaten teammate Kimi Raikkonen in three of the past four races and only missed out on outqualifying the veteran Finn by 0.013s in Austria.

“I think he’s doing a strong job in quali,” Vasseur told Motorsport.com. “He’s matching Kimi on Saturdays now, we just have to calm down the situation.

“I’m not too worried, because he’s doing the job. He scored a point in Austria, he was in a good dynamic at Silverstone, he was again in front of Kimi.

"Honestly he’s not under pressure, from the team or anyone else. I will be patient.”

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At Silverstone Raikkonen scored points for the seventh time in 10 starts this year with a solid eighth place, helping to consolidate Alfa’s sixth position in the constructors' standings.

“It was a good one,” said Vasseur. “A very strong and solid race from Kimi, because he was always in front of someone with DRS, and he managed very well the situation. The pace was OK, it was a good fight, and he managed it very well.

“We scored four points, we increased the gap with some of our rivals in the championship. We didn’t do the perfect weekend, but in this situation if you are able to score four points, it’s a good step forward for the team.”

Vasseur is hopeful that updates will give Alfa a further boost before the summer break.

“We’ll have some in Budapest, and perhaps Germany," he said. "We won’t bring one second per race, but if it’s one tenth per race, I’m more than happy.”